Spring-motor.



H. W. GLELAND.

. SPRING MOTOR. APPLICATION FILED MAY 23, 1905.

Patented Ja11.23, 1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

WITNESSES INVENTOR I H. GLELAND.

SPRING MOTOR. I APPLIOATION FILED Mn 23, 1905.

1,015,298. Patented Jan.23,'1912.

2 sms'rs-sn'nnw 2.

UNITED s ATEs P TE TorF cn;

mnmrw. CLELAND, or wrnxmsnunc, ".PENNSYLVANIA, as'sreivon IQ e. sREWEa emrrm, or EDGEWOOD PARK, rnmvsnvanm SPRING-MOTOR Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Jan. 23, 1912.

Application flled 19.123, 1905. Serial no. 261,858.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HARRY W. GLELANn;

of Wilkinsburg, Allegheny county, Pennsyl- Vania, have invented new and useful Improvements in Spring-Motors, of which the followin is a full, clear, and exact descrlption, re erencebeing had to the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification, inwh1ch tors, and has been more particularly de-.

signed to provide a motor which is adapted to operate a generator for supplying electric current to portable electric lamps. It

has been. customary in this class of lamps, as

heretofore made, to supply the current by a. small batter located in the lamp casing.

These batteries, of course, last only a short time and are 'liable to deteriorate rapidly,

. inafter more fully requiring frequent replacing. My invention is designed to overcome these diflicult-ies, and thereby make possible a hand lamp to which the current is supplied by a small generator located within-the lamp casing and driven :bva motor in the casing or by a hand at-. V g

" shaft- 20, while, the other and outer endis tachment or both.

The invention also conslsts in so arrang-v ing the motor that it will form a part of i J the connectionsjbetween the hand leverof the gearing actuated while at the same time the hand lever or hand device operates to wind up the spring.

The invention further'consists in the construction and arran ement of parts as hereescribed andclaimed. In the drawin s 2 represents the casing which may be 0 oblong form in cross-section as shown or of circular form or any other desired shape. Within this casing is mounted a small electric which the commutator isin 'cated at 4 and the commutator brushes at 5, 5.

6 is the lower bearingfor the generator thereby and the genenerator 3 of shaft which bearing is preferably secured to or. formed as apart of the yoke base f the field magnet 8.

9, 9 represent the cores of the field. The bearing 6 is preferably non-magnetic ma terial f i I preferably arrange the end portion 10 of the casing so that it is detachable, and

'may be pulled off to give access-to the interior parts. v

The hand lever 11 for operatingthe spring ,and thereby the generator is shown as pivoted to the part 10 at 12,, the top end of this lever being preferably bent as shownat 13 and provided with a hook-shaped recess 14 which may be engaged with a short pin 15 on the upper end of the casing to hold the lever in closed position when in the pocket.

From the intermediate part of this hand lever projects the ratchet bar 16 having suitable ratchet teeth engaging a ratchet wheel 17. The teeth of this .ratchet are normally I held in engagement with the ratchet wheel by a leaf spring 18 bearing against the edge of the ratchet or rack bar. The ratchet wheel is prevented from rotating rearwardly by means of a spring-pressed pawl 19 engaging itsteeth. This ratchet wheel is se- :cured to a shaft 20 which is mounted in suitable bearings in the frame 21 of the driving mechanism.- Loosely surrounding the shaft 20 is a springbarrel 22 containing a 'coil spring,'one end, of which is secured to the secured to the springtbarrel. This spring barrel is provided with a toothed gear wheel 23 which intermeshes with a pinion 24 on a shaft 25 having a large toothed wheel 26 which engages a small pinion 27 on a short parallel shaft 28'. A toothed Wheel, 29 is secured to the shaft 28 and engages a pinion .30 secured to the generator shaft. e

- The lamp 31 may be constructed in'any suitable manner, and I have shown it as' mounted in a conical-casing 32 having a lens 33, the'casing forming a reflector. The

lamp .is screwed into thesocket 34 formed portion of the reflector, the

the plug containing the center lead-in wire. Y

The negative wire 39 leads back from the screw plug casing to the other brush and the commutator. If the casing of the apparatus is of non conducting material, the wire 37 would lead to the frame of the apparatus and the current would pass through the frame to the spring 38. If the casing is of conducting material, the spring 38 will be lnsulat-ed from the case, and .wires will be employed as shown. v

Secured to the shaft 20 is a fixed arm 40 which is arranged to engage a screw 41 secured to the spring barrel, preferably to the gear wheel part 28 thereof. The screw acts as a stop to prevent movementof the arm in one direction except as the top is turned. This stop is so arranged that when the hand lever is operated it will tend to move the arm away from the stop.

The spring in the spring barrel. is wound up to an initial tension at the factory, which tension is balanced by the pressure of the stop against the stop arm when not in operation. When the operator rapidly recipro-v cates the hand lever he will move the stop arm away from the stop and if this reciprocation is continuously carried on the spring in the-barrel will continuously rotate the generator, while at the same time the spring is being wound up by the movements of the ratchet wheel. The screw is made accessible either by boring a hole through the gearing frame or in any other desirable manner, so that it may be removed and the spring woundupto the desired tension, after which the screw is inserted so as to bear against the stop arm. In the form shown the hand lever is returned oy a spring 42 and the lever is preferably provided with a stop' 4 which limits its outward movement.

and stops. 7

By making the stop removable I can adjust the tension of each individual lamp according to'the individual characteristics of its motor, lamp and driving spring. This important "since if the parts are to lie made ineXactly'the same manner there are indi vidual characteristics which will necessitate the proportioning of the tension for each lamp.

The hand drivin device may of course be varied in many di erent ways, thus I show in Fig. 5 a driving mechanism adapted to impart movement to the spring shaft on both movements of the lever. In this case 44 represents a hand lever or a lever connected to a hand device. This lever is shown as provided with a spring-pressed pawl 45,engagingthe ratchet wheel 46. A pivotal link 47 connects the lever 44 with a lever 48 having a similar spring-pressed pawl 49 engaging a ratchet wheel 50. The ratchet wheels 46 and 50 are secured to shafts 51 and 52 on which shafts are secured the gear wheels 53 and 54 which intermesh with each other. A spring 55 is adapted to return the hand lever. In this case one pawl will move its ratchet as the hand lever moves in one direction while the other pawl will actuate its ratchet as the' hand lever moves, in the opposite direction. 111 this case the returning spring must of course be strong enough to overcome the resistance and exert a driving force upon the shaft of the spring barrel as well as returning the parts. In this case the spring is p-referably made adjustable,so

that its tension may be varied if desired.

apparent to those skilled in the art.

' These hand or pocket electric lamps have proven useful fol many purposes, but have been objectionable on account of their being sensitive to dampness and needing frequent these difficulties are overcome, ahd the device is always ready for use.

'The initial tension motor is an important feature of the invention, since in order to give a steady light it is important that the generator should be driven at a fairly constant rate of speed. This would be practically impossible with any direct connection between the hand device and the generator.

sion I can further adjust the tension ofthe motor according to the resistance inthe circuit and thereby obtain a good and fairly uniform light from each lamp. This insures a fairly steady light under one or two actions of the hand lever so-l0ng as it is re ciprocated in such a-manner as tolreep the stop lever out of engagement with the stop,

to carry it around to the other side of the stop. The generator may be of any well known type and may be either of the magof the ordinary self exciting type. It is of course. constructed so as to be light and compact.

The hand driving device may be changed, the type of initial tension motor may be varied, and many other changes may be parts without departing from my invention,

replacing of the battery. By my invention withoutof course moving it so rapidly as netic type with permanent field magnets, or

made in the form and arrangement of the 7 The advantages of my invention will be By using'the inotor havingthis initial tensince I consider myself the first to combine in portable form a hand driving device with an electric generator and lamp.

' means for actuating said connections, and a connection between said manual means and the spring, whereby the spring Will exert a driving action only when the manual means is being operated and thereby maintain the spring under an initial tension, substantially as described.

3. A springmoto'r comprising a shaft, a

, spring barrel loosely mounted on said shaft,

a spring connecting the shaft and barrel,

1 connections for actuating the shaft to wind the spring, and a stop connection between the barrel 'andsaid shaft acting to hold thev barrel against-rotating except when the actuating connections are in motion and there by maintain the spring under initial tension,

substantially as described.

4. A spring motor comprising a shaft, a spring barrel loosely mounted on said shaft; a spring connectin the barrel and shaft, a

1 gear wheel carried y the barrel and having a stop projection, an arm secured to' said shaft and adapted'to engage the stop projection, and connections for actuating said shaft, substantially as described.

" 5. A spring motor comprising a gear to be driven, a spring barrel connected to said gear, a shaft on which the spring barrel is loosely mounted, a ratchet wheel connected tosaid shaft, a spring within the barrel and connecting the barrel and shaft, and a stop between the s ring barrel and the shaft arranged to maintain the spring under an initial tension substantially as described.

6. A spring motor comprising a gear to be driven, a spring barrel connected to said gear, a shaft on which the barrel is loosely mounted, a spring connecting the barrel and shaft, a ratchet wheel on-the shaft, and a pivoted lever connected to the outside of the one. direction to wind up the spring, substantially as described.

7 A spring motor comprising a gear to be driven, a spring barrel connected to. said gear, a' shaft on which the barrel is loosely mounted, a" spring connecting the barrel and:

shaft, a ratchet wheel on the shaft, and a pivoted lever connected to the outside of the casing and having an extension projecting into the casing arranged to actuate the ratchet wheel to wind up the spring, together with a connection between the barrel and the shaft arranged to maintain the spring under an initial tension, substantially as described.

' In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set m hand: r

-. y HARRY W. CLELAND.

Witnesses:

JOHN MILLER, '11. M. OORWIN. 

